Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:37:55 Bill Sudbrink said:
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/16/026l-081699-idx.html
>
>Fortunately, the article does not use that horrid phrase:
>
>"Software Program"
>
>AAARRRGGG!!!
>
>Why don't we get in the automobile car and drive ride to the
>financial institution bank. There we can get some cash currency
Bill, would you not call this an example of a hardware program?
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog/analogs2.jpg
I would not feel comfortable saying that this computer is running
software. In fact it's wired to calculate and graphically display
the trajectory of a ball after it's dropped from a certain height,
and bounces on the ground. In practice, the program had a bug in it
or a computing element was not functioning right, because when the
program ran it would crash just after the first bounce. Probably
had to do with the acceleration or velocity changing to the negative
direction.
If the function of something can be changed, whether the change is
in the sequence of bits recorded on a diskette, or the pivot point
in a set of linkages, I would say that you are changing the
programming of that machine.
But that's just my perspective and opinion.
Regards,
--Doug
====================================================
Doug Coward dcoward_at_pressstart.com (work)
Sr. Software Eng. mranalog_at_home.com (home)
Press Start Inc.
http://www.pressstart.com
Sunnyvale,CA
Curator
Analog Computer Museum and History Center
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
====================================================
Received on Wed Aug 18 1999 - 11:27:07 BST
